What Penalty For Sexism in Sport?

Sky News Reporters Richard Keys and Andy Gray

Anyone living in Britain at the moment would have to be hiding under a rock to have missed the current Sky news sexism row. It hasn’t quite got its own ‘-gate’ suffix yet but it’s surely only a matter of time, as what started as a few off-the-cuff comments has snowballed into a national debate.

Sky Sports presenters Richard Keys and Andy Gray were commentating on a football (soccer) match last Saturday, when, believing their microphones to be switched off, they made sexist remarks about the female referee, Sian Massey. The game hadn’t even started when they were already criticising her ability to do her job, complaining that women “don’t know the offside rule” and that “the game’s gone mad.” They …